1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle seat of a foldable type permitting a seat formation and a load-carrying platform formation, and in particular to a hinged rear seat of the same type.
2. Description of Prior Art
Typically, an ordinary rear seat used in a vehicle having capacity to accomodate both occupant and load or baggages therein is basically composed of a seat cushion (1), of which the front part is rotatably pivoted on the floor and a seat back (7) which is rotatably pivoted at its lower part on the body of the vehicle, as shown in FIG. 1.
Now, reference being made to FIGS. 1 through 5, a description will be made of such a conventional hinged seat. The seat cushion (1) is free to rotate at the forward pivot point (2) between the horizontally laying position as in FIG. 1 and the uprightly erecting position as in FIG. 4. The rearward end part of such seat cushion (1) is provided with a lock member (4) by a bracket (5) such that the lock member (4) is rotatable about the pivot point (3). A pull strap (6) is fixed at the free end of the lock member (4). The seat back (7) is free to rotate at the lower pivot point (8) between the uprightly erecting position as in FIG. 1 and the horizontally laying position as in FIG. 4. A stopper member (9) is fixed at the lower end of the seat back (7).
As shown in FIG. 1, where the seat cushion (1) is set in the horizontally laying position, the lock member (4) is oriented in a direction rearwardly of the seat cushion (1), leaning against the bracket (5). Under such state, the free end of the lock member (4) faces towards the lock member (4) with a given distance therebetween, but, when the seat cushion (1) is applied, there is a great upwardly pulling force, and seat cushion is to be thrown out upwardly, the lock member (4) collides with the stopper member (9), thereby preventing the seat cushion (1) against further upward rotation beyond the junction between the seat cushion (1) and seat back (7), and thus protecting an occupant sitting thereon against damage.
With the above structure, when it is desired to rotate the seat cushion (1) to the uprightly erectting position, the pull strap (6) is first pulled so as to cause upward rotation of the lock member (4) as indicated by the arrow in FIG. 5 to such an erecting unlocked position indicated by the phantom line in FIG. 5, where the lock member (4) is placed in a condition to be from the latch engagement with the stopper member (9), and then secondly, is further pulled in a forward direction of the seat cushion (1), so that the seat cushion (1) is caused to rotate about the pivot point (2) and stands erects as in FIG. 4.
Then, the seat back (7) may be rotated forwardly about the pivot point (8) to the horizontally laying position as in FIG. 4, where the rear-side surface (7a) of the seat back (7) is brought in registry with a load-carrying platform, which thus increases the area of that platform.
However, the lock member (4) rests upon the bracket (5), simply under gravity, extending such as to be latch-wise engageable with the stopper member (9), and as consequence thereof, when a great load is applied to the seat cushion (1), tending to throw the same upwardly, the lock member (4) per se is easily rotated about the pivot point (3) upwardly to the unlocking position as indicated by the arrow (a) in FIG. 5, just before the seat cushion (1) is rotated, as a result of which, the free end of the lock member (4) is slipped upon or slidingly disengaged from the surface of the stopper member (9), and thus the seat cushion (1) is thrown up with an exceptional impact.